THE FANTASTIC WORLD OF KELLIANNE SA.E.DA EDITORS
Kellianne O’Brien, Life for Art a project of Salvatore Costantino
L’Editore dichiara di avere provveduto e/o di stare per provvedere a tutti gli obblighi di stampa e di riservare per sè la proprietà intellettuale di questa opera, secondo le normative europee attualmente in vigore. L’Editore ha assolto agli obblighi derivanti dal copyright ma si dichiara disponibile a saldare coloro i quali fosssero i reali detentori dei diritti di autore di qualcuna delle opere rappresentate finora adesposta e ne facessero regolare richiesta.
Kellianne O’Brien, Collage, 2018 (front cover)©
Kellianne O’Brien, Tropical Lagoon, 2017 (retro cover)©
© SA.E.DA EDITORS
realized by F.A.W.A. - ITALY 2018
PROJECT dated 2018: Prof. Dr. Dr. S. Costantino 0039.388.8333.554 profcostantino.fineart@gmail.com
http://costantinoartcritic.xoom.it
© ®
CONTENTS Presentation, p. 7
O’BRIEN, p. 9
A rare incursion..., p. 33
Another way to communicate: photos, p. 40
KELLIANNE Artist’s Statement, p. 56
Exibitions & Awards, p. 62
Collage 1, p. 70
Radical Creativity on Abstraction in Art, p. 74
Radical Forgetting & Perceptions of the Whole, p. 74
Collage 2, p. 76
1967 “Artist’s first steps”
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Presentation
I have the immense burden and honor of introducing Kellianne O’Brien readers, fans and art lovers to the new and brilliant edition of her 2018 Art Catalog.......................................................................... This syllogy, this little treasure chest of joys and secrets, is much richer than the previous one and can easily guide the expert as well as the beginner collector and / or amateur of art within the “fantastic world of Kellianne”......................................................................... Kellianne O’Brien started an artistic career many years ago and she is now taking the well-deserved fruits of a long process of psychological excavation, deepening and cultivation of the imagination. The readers, alternately, will find paintings - real artworks - photographs (that look a lot like paintings) and small art jewels, taken out of the workshop of the solitary craftswoman, sure of her stuff and who knows that her creations inspire others.................................. A very profane note in so much spirituality: I suggest you to get one of the works of Kellianne as soon as possible, which for now have reasonable and acceptable quotations in the world of Art. No art critic guarantee future prices for Kellianne’s works, given that Kellianne is continuously rewarded and invited to the greatest artistic events in the world.............................................................................. My best wishes to such a talentuos woman, who struggles in the world to affirm herself and her dignity on a daily basis!............................................................................................. Prof. Dr. Dr. Salvatore Costantino
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ARTIST - KELLIANNE O’BRIEN 53 PAULS Rd BRATTLEBORO, VT 05301 USA colouriste@gmail.com
The World of colors that animates the paintings of Kellianne O’Brien is highly evocative. Color, shadow and light run in a continuous visual game. The artist does not merely fill colorless space, but she escapes emptiness, as if perceiving a horror vacui that takes your breath away. Days and nights chase each other like children playing hide and seek in the tormented soul of an artist, which is always looking for light, peace and serenity.
THE BIRTHDAY PAINTING 42 X 42 in [107 cm X 107 cm], Euro 4500 Acrylic on Canvas - Acrilico su tela K9
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“RHYTM IN BLUE”, 24 X 18 in [61 cm X 46 cm], Euro 2100 Acrylic on Wood Panel - Acrilico su pannello di legno
Kellianne O’Brien is not only interested in the world of abstract and evocative painting. Forays into the field of “figure” are not rare or strange – Our Artist prefers subjects from the world of Nature, and animals. She also paints childlike figures sketched with quick, wide brushstrokes. An interesting style test is the painting, Goddess, which is reminiscent of abstract mythological figures sketched by great artists in Mittleuropean '900 (these paintings are well known in our field!). Kellianne O’Brien is a polyhedral world! You can not simply define - for example - canonically the two tests paintings Elephant and The Lollipop Girl. A menacing figure looks at the observer, who is in trouble, in Elephant, while The Lollipop Girl, with her flaming hair, seems to walk in timeless space.
“VIRGIN MEADOW IN IRELAND” 28 X 30 in [71 cm X 76 cm], Euro 1680 Acrylic on Canvas - Acrilico su tela K11
It is not given to the observer to understand whether this love for Nature and Color is based upon a belief in a supreme bring that governs all, or in the power of Nature. Kellianne O’Brien is an interesting artist, but her artworks are more important because they show a creator that is a person with a deep spirituality.
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1990 “At a party”
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Along the Coast Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 24 in.
Celeste Prophecy Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
Celeste Seashore Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
Crimson Sunrise Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 24 in.
$2,200
$2,500
NOT FOR SALE
$1,200
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Eastern Orange Acrylic on Canvas, 48 x 36 in.
$3,200
Fleurs de Joie Acrylic on Wood, 24 x 18 in.
$1,200
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Cyclone Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
Deluge Acrylic on Canvas 40 x 40 in.
Dragon’s Breath Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 24 in.
Earth’s Palette Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
$2,200
$4,500
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$1,200
$3,200
1993
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April Swirls Acrylic on Canvas 16 x 20 in.
$2,500
By the Pond Acrylic on Wood 18 x 24 in.
$850
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Glympse of Sky Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
$3,200
Kellianne O’Brien is a true artist. She is one of those strange and wonderful people who offers us the world we live in. She is a person who arouses in us emotions of all kinds. A viewer cannot remain insensitive in front of her works of art – they are either loved or they are hated. Some of Kellianne's paintings look like fierce cries of pain, others look like prayers, and others offer hope. Kellianne's paintings contain within them the hope of the salvific and the regenerative function of art. Among the privileges that human beings have is the ability to nurture themselves spiritually with the beauty that is in Art. Kellianne can create Beauty!
Geometry of Colour Acrylic on Wood 24 x 18 in.
$3,500
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To spectators/observers who are entering Kellianne's work for the first time (the fantastic world of Kellianne), I recommend taking a bath of humility. You cannot understand Kellianne's paintings if you entrust yourself entirely to an aesthetic sense, or to mathematical logic. If you view her work in this way, you will never be able to penetrate Kellianne's language. You will remain locked out of her world. Kellianne is reason and feeling, image and thought, instinct and reflection. The observer must have the confidence to let go into the flow of feelings that come through Kellianne's paintings. To Roses & Sunflowers Acrylic on Canvas 16 x 20 in.
$1,000
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Pink Colourspace Acrylic on Wood 18 x 24 in.
$2,800
Kellianne painting is living, praying, breathing. She cannot do this without communicating with others because poets and painters are made like this. For us, poets and painters are like lighthouses that illuminate in the night the return road to the warm home. Baudelaire’s writes about the importance of lighthouses and people who are like lighthouses in a well-known poem. It is no coincidence that Kellianne loves to photograph maritime territories in storms and beautiful coasts embellished by solitary lighthouses which help sailors. K23
Yellow, Sand, Blue Acrylic on Canvas, 20 x 20 in. Kaleidoscopic Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
$3,200
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$2,200
Hues of Green Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
$1,800
Window to Heaven Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
Tulips & Roses Acrylic on Wood 24 x 18 in.
$3,200
$1,200
Typhoon Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
$2,200
Tropical Lagoon Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
$3,200
The Green Lens Acrylic on Canvas 36 x 36 in.
$875
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1993 “DC-camera in hands” K27
The following is the beautiful letter that the artist, Kellianne sent from Vermont (U.S.A.) to Palermo (Italy) for the vernissage of White Colour: Rhapsody 2017. Kellianne was the protagonist of this high-level artistic event. White Colour had a deep echo in Italian media and in social media worldwide. The letter has a very personal and profound character. This is Kellianne: instinct and reflection; thought and action. November 7, 2017 Dear Professor Salvatore Costantino and Guests of Honor,
Thank you for inviting me to join you this evening in Palermo for a magnificent celebration of Art and Culture!
I wish my Mother was still alive so that she could participate in this special event with us. My spiritual connection with her continues to guide me as I write this letter to you.
I would like to dedicate this letter to my Mother, Elizabeth Ann O'Brien whose Light shines bright in my Heart.
Today the world is filled with anger, hatred and violence, and my life has reflected this world. I have survived the judgment and contempt of human beings, and acts of violence that only they can inflict. Throughout it all, my faith in God has protected me and carried me through to safety.
I have also been fortunate enough to have experienced pure Joy, heartfelt Laughter and unconditional Love. K28
Tapisserie du Jour Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 24 in.
$1,800
I paint big canvases with bold colors to transform painful memories into a World in which Light and Love prevail. Wonderment and Joy, supported by faith harmonize to bring color, shape, sound and movement into alignment. This harmony transports me into a space where the world becomes unified and is synchronized by Love.
Tonight we come together at the dawn of a new era in which friendships will emerge unexpectedly while we listen to music, eat fine food, talk with one another and enjoy a shared discussion.
For this union, I am grateful. Blessings!
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Ode to Chagall Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 24 in.
$4,200
Liliac Dream Acrylic on Canvas 16 x 20 in.
$1,800
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Summer Acrylic on Canvas 36 x 36 in.
$1,200
Seafoam Isle Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in. Sea Green Acrylic on Canvas 20 x 20 in.
$3,500
$2,200
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Late Summer Roses Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 24 in.
$1,500
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A rare incursion, and meditated, in the field of figurative Art
As an art critic, I am often engaged in exhausting discussions with insiders and other figures who are part of the art world. However, sometimes I have to respond to simple questions which are in fact very difficult. At the wonderful artistic event in Palermo, White Colour: Rhapsody 2017, I was asked by students the simple question: “Why doesn't Kellianne paint pictures with human or animal figures? There were at least fifty students from the Academy of Fine Arts, Palermo who were taking notes on my words.
Everyone fell silent and turned their faces towards me. I must confess that I felt a little intimidated.
And I replied:
“Dear students, I must confess that entering the world of Kellianne is not easy, but the only explanation, which seems plausible to me, to your question, is that the artist Kellianne sees the world in a different way from ordinary people; Kellianne does not care for precise, detailed and complete geometries. She reworks the shapes in her mind and creates them for inspiration. The few paintings with anthropomorphic and clearly recognizable figures that you find in her artworks are the the result of a great impression, that those topics have marked in the artist's mind�.
Ok, this time I escaped in an intelligent way!
I saved myself!
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African Woman Oil on Canvas 16 x 20 in. (framed)
$2,500
Elephant Enamel on Wood 36 x 24 in.
$3,500
Upon entering this World Oil on Canvas (framed), 41 x 29 in., NOT FOR SALE
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Tribute to Van Gogh Oil on Wood, 36 x 24 in.
$3,500
1993 “DC”
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Emerging Subjectivity Acrylic on Canvas 29 x 41 in. (framed) NOT FOR SALE
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Goddess Acrylic on Canvas 29 x 41 in. (framed)
$2,500
The Lollipop Girl Oil on Wood, 39 x 27 in. (framed)
$5,500
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Another way to communicate: photos
At the Beach At Dusk
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Autumn Stroll K41
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Ocean Shrine
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1988 “Cape Cod” K45
Kellianne O'Brien's photographs are available to purchase:
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HD Fine Art Print (approximate size, 16" x 20") Printed on FujiFlex Crystal Archival Paper Mounted to Acrylic, 1/8" Encapsulated with Sintra, 3mm $160/each
Kellianne’s photographs are worthy of embellishing the environment where you live and dream. The photographs are not simple shots of an amateur. They are the results of the research of an artist who looks at the world through angles different from yours. The photographs are beautiful and fascinating. It would be nice to get up in the morning in a refined or cozy setting to fix your attention on these wonderful glimpses of the ocean or seagulls gliding on the beach in a wild but sweet and gentle way. The dispassionate advice of an art critic d’antan like me is to be surrounded by beautiful things, to gratify oneself from everyday life and from its troubles. At Peace
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Gloucester Harbor
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Birds of the Harbor
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Midday Moss Winged Grace
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A Mother’s Wings
Shore of Jewels
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1996 “Art opening Madison”
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Dawn
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KELLIANNE Artist’s Statement
In 1994 Kellianne began a journey of recovery through the healing power of Art. Kellianne was experiencing intense emotional pain when she was introduced to a woman named Mona Webb. Mona was a wellknown Outsider artist who took Kellianne under her wing and taught her how to live and work in a profoundly spiritual way. Mona encouraged Kellianne to paint on a large scale. Mona Webb taught students in her home and gallery called the Wayhouse of Light which was located in Madison, Wisconsin. Mona helped Kellianne survive the darkest period in her life by encouraging her to paint big, bright, beautiful canvases. During the two years that Kellianne worked with Mona, she created a large body of work which include abstract Light paintings and figurative stone sculpture. Kellianne’s unwavering will to heal herself and her faith in God are the foundations for her painting practice. Her life and work are a testimony to the ways in which Divine Love and Light heal the wounds caused by human beings. Kellianne's vibrant abstract Light paintings reflect her spiritual union with God. For Kellianne, painting is an act of reverence and a passionate expression of her Faith in God. One person likened viewing Kellianne’s paintings to “being in a cathedral”.
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2006 “London”
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The Landing Spirited Wings
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Stream’s Crossing
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Trees & Sky
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EXHIBITIONS & AWARDS
2017, White Colour: Rhapsody 2017, Art Room and Exposition: at San Giovanni Decollato Church, Palermo, Sicily, ITALY 2016, “Contemporaries at Uffizi”, Palazzo Ximenes Panciatichi, Florence, ITALY 2016, Louvre Video Exposition, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France
2016, Permanent Exhibition, Associazione Culturale Daedalus, Salerno, ITALY 2016, Venice in Art, Casanova Award, Flangini Palace, Venice, ITALY 2016, “Concept,” Collective Exhibition, Chie Gallery, Milan, ITALY 2016, Arte Borgo Gallery, Rome, ITALY
2016, International Award “Tiepolo - Arte Milano”, Clerici Palace, Milan, ITALY
2016, Canaletto Prize - Artistic Career Award, Valier Mansion, Mira, Venice, ITALY
2016, Arte a Palazzo International Collective of Painting, Sculpture & Photography, Palazzo Fantuzzi, Galleria Farini, Bologna, ITALY
2015, “Pollock The New Heirs: 30 Cases of Informal Paintings”, Villa Castelnuovo, Palermo, ITALY 2015, Art Taormina - International Award “Mazzullo”, Palazzo dei Duchi di Santo Stefano, Taormina, Sicily, ITALY 2015, The Miami Art Expo, Nina Torres Fine Art Gallery, Miami, Florida USA
2015, 1st Art Biennale of Barcelona, MEAM, European Modern Art Museum, Barcelona, SPAIN 2014, Candidate to the 1st Trinacria Award 2014, Monreale-Palermo, ITALY
2013, Parallax Art Fair, London, England, UK
2010, Ico Art & Music Gallery, New York, USA
2007, La Galleria Immagini Spazio Arte, Cremona, ITALY
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2005, Assunta Fox Gallery, California, USA
2004, Gallery Gora, Montreal Quebec, CANADA.
2003, Biennale D'Arte Contemporanea Ippolito Caffi, Rome, ITALY 2003, Art Cubic Gallery, Barcelona, SPAIN
2003, Art-Domain Gallery, Port d'Andratx, Mallorca, SPAIN
2004 “Montreal”
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2002, OMMA Centre of Contemporary Art, Hania, Crete, GREECE 2002, Sala Barna, Barcelona, SPAIN
2001, Tillett Gardens, St. Thomas, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
2001, “Ecstasy”, 8th Salon Associazione Cultural, Piacenza, ITALY 2000, Fyfe's Corner Bistro, Wisconsin, USA
1998, Ground Zero Cafe and Gallery, Wisconsin, USA
1997, University of Wisconsin Hospital Surgical Waiting Lounge, Wisconsin, USA 1996, Mother Fool's Coffee House, Wisconsin, USA
1996, Mental Health Center of Dane County, Wisconsin, USA 1996, Cafe Assisi Gallery, Wisconsin, USA
1995, Cafe Assisi Gallery, Wisconsin, USA
1995, Steep 'n Brew Gallery, Wisconsin, USA
PUBLICATIONS
Art International Contemporary, November, 2016, Palermo, ITALY
Art International Contemporary, September, 2016, Palermo, ITALY Art International Contemporary, April, 2016, Palermo, ITALY
Bioncoscuro Art Magazine, Issue #15, April-May, 2016, Pavia, ITALY
Bioncoscuro Art Magazine, Issue #14, February-March, 2016, Pavia, ITALY
The New Heirs of Jackson Pollock – Historical Paths of the Informal Art, Effetto Arte Magazine, May-June, ITALY, 2014
The Best Modern & Contemporary Artists 2014, Salvatore Russo & Francesco Saverio Russo, ITALY, 2014
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Grace
Art & Beyond Special (Digit. Photograph. Issue), Art & Beyond Pub., USA, 2013 Exposure, See.Me, New York, USA, 2012
Best of Artists Abstract & Mixed Media Vol. II, Kennedy Publishing, New York, USA, 2012 Who's Who in Visual Art 2010-2011, Leipzig, Germany
International Contemporary Masters, World Wide Art Books Publishing, California, USA, 2010 Art in Real-Time: Swimming Pool, World of Art Publishing, London, UK, 2008 Trends: Contemporary Artists, World of Art Publishing, London, UK, 2008
Famous Contemporary Artists, World of Art Publishing, London, UK, 2007
AWARDS
Contemporaries at Uffizi Prize, November, 2016, Uffizi Gallery Museum, Pier Scheraggio Room, Florence, ITALY
Venice in Art - "International Casanova Award - Arts Lover", September, 2016, Flangini Palace, Venice, ITALY
International Award “Tiepolo - Arte Milano”, April, 2016, Clerici Palace, Milan, ITALY
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The Fishing Boat
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Canaletto Prize 2016 - Artistic Career Award, April, 2016, Valier Mansion, Mira, Venice, ITALY International Pollock Award, October, 2015, Villa Castelnuovo, Palermo, ITALY
International Mazzullo Award, July, 2015, Palazzo Duchi di Santo Stefano, Taormina, ITALY
Trinacria Award 2014, Tribute to Sicily, March, 2014, Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Monreale-Palermo, ITALY
World of Art Award for the Best Practices in Art & Culture, World of Art Magazine, 2005-2006, London, UK
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Perspective
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Lighthouse Bay
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A&L 70
2011 A&L 71
House on the Hill
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Harborside
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RADICAL CREATIVITY ON ABSTRACTION IN ART
Not all of us were born alike. In fact, no one is like any other. Most of us were taught this at a young age in school. Abstraction in art is a way of life for some artists, not merely a philosophical concept of aesthetics. Abstraction in art requires a kind of unlearning of traditional teaching and learning practices, and demands radical freedom of expression. Think about finger painting in elementary school; think about molding clay for the first time with your bare hands; think about catching a frog in a stream when you were young. As an abstract painter, the paint itself guides me towards creating form, shape, harmony & symmetry on the canvas. I do not draw lines or sketch drawings before entering a canvas with paint. Nor do I utilize mathematical or scientific formula to create art. Perceiving form, shape, harmony & symmetry is not supported by traditional mathematical, scientific or even linguistic concepts; however, the perceptual process involved in feeling the emergence of form, shape, harmony & symmetry is precise in abstraction in art.
RADICAL FORGETTING & PERCEPTIONS OF THE WHOLE
To create art-in-abstraction demands a kind of radical forgetting of current perceptions of what has been demonstrated, or evidenced, as true in the world. If what is true in the world is true precisely because it has been demonstrated as true through already existent perceptual methodologies, mathematical, scientific or linguistic, then it is not, by definition, abstract. Additionally, creating art-in-abstraction demands the radical forgetting of the perception of parts apart from the whole. That is, the artist must always have in mind the whole apart from what makes it up, in parts. In creating art-in-abstraction, I perceive the entirety of the painting before I perceive its parts. This perceptual process is radically different from what is traditionally taught in schools, where the parts usually lead to the perception of the whole, or where the perceptual process leads to its end manifestation, or “the work of art.” In the latter case, “making art” is more like putting together pieces of a puzzle. In creating art-in-abstraction, the puzzle pieces themselves are unknown from the beginning. Forms emerge on the canvas precisely through always perceiving the whole-in-abstraction – and by radically forgetting pieces and parts that might, beforehand, make up “an idea for” a work of art.
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2017 K75
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These perceptual un-doings of traditional approaches to creating art, or radical forgetting of what are considered predominant modalities of perception, are precisely what allow for a radical freedom of expression in creating art! It is not easy to perceive of things backwards, inside-out or upside-down. The way towards creative freedom of expression, or, RADICAL CREATIVITY, is to un-do what and how we have learned. In creating art-in-abstraction, the artist must forget learned ways of (pre)conceiving a whole as “the sum of parts,” and instead always perceive of what is greater than parts, and what is coming from the act of abstraction itself, to form a work of art. In always keeping in mind the whole, or by retaining a Vision of the Whole- perception, medium and process actually become one, or merge. The end result, or “work of art,” in this way, is a creation or formation, rather than a production or idea-manifestation. Nothing is “produced,” yet something is yielded, formed, otherwise created.
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SA.E.DA EDITORS Printed in Italy April 2018